Auction glossary
Absentee bid
Also known as · Commission bid · Written bid · Left bid
- Definition
- A written instruction left with the auction house before the sale, authorising it to bid on a lot on a client's behalf up to a stated maximum. The auctioneer executes it as cheaply as competing bids and the reserve allow.
Absentee bids let clients take part without attending or phoning in. Most conditions of sale state that if two identical absentee bids are received, the earlier one takes precedence. The auctioneer sees them lot by lot in the auctioneer's book.
In Selloff, absentee bids are entered on the bidder's record, imported from an XLSX file or received from connected platforms. They can be checked against the sale's bid increments and are printed in the bid book.
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